K&N Air filter on a 2.0L TDI 170 BHP

[k992061]

Hi guys and thank you for your contribution and time!

I am going to start doing a 100 mile commute to work each day and want to make sure my 2011 2.0L TDI 170 BHP C6 A6 Avant Le Mans is ready for it and set up properly.

Amongst other things I saw a K&N replacement air filter and wondered what peoples opinion of them are, worth it or better to keep to the original?

Also what else should / could I look into doing? I only use Shell / BP diesel, are diesel engine cleaners worth their value or are they a waste of time with the Audi 2.0L 170 diesel engine.

The car was serviced 1000 miles ago and the oil and the fluids were all changed.

Thank you in advance for your help and advice!

[dan2485]

I do a 100 mile a day commute also, you will be looking at 2 sets of tires a year and a service every 3-4 months. this will be the biggest expense apart from fuel.

The air filter only needs to be done annually and not on every service, the same for the pollen filter.

Your fuel filter will have to be replaced every 40000 miles so you looking at a yearly change.

Again brake pads and disc will need replacing every 2 years.

i would ditch the K&N filter as you want the car to be economical rather than guzzling fuel.

Filling her up every week will cost you around £280 a month at the current price.

[Toni Hughes]

Did I just stumble upon the MaxPower forum ?

[Guest 2]

on a diesel i don't see any benefit! keep the oem one and replace it when due.

[royclark]

I Agree, Stick with OEM style.

[MarkTM]

I change my air filter every 6 months, not with OEM but aftermarket

Audi A6 3.0 Tdi Quattro Oe Genuine Air Filter Service Car Tf19479 | eBay

Less than a 5th of the price of OEM and my local Indy compared it to an OEM one...same weight, number of pleats, colour and construction...only thing it lacked was a 4 silver ring stamp

So I bulk buy and store along with the aftermarket oil filters I change every 5k miles.

[royclark]

I change my air filter every 6 months,

What mileage does six months come to Mark ?

[MarkTM]

Roy, I've had my car since Aug 2012 and have added 23k miles, so on average am guessing that's circa 4500 miles every 6 months.

I am genuinely surprised at the amount of crud the filter picks up in that time...and no engine isn't going to benefit from the greater throughput of air that a new filter offers.

Also at that price (over the Audi one of £26.05 inc) if I change mine every 6 months it still comes out cheaper than someone that replaces with OEM every 2.5yrs

PS: In my petrol head days I remember reading an independent test of aftermarket filters, 7 were tested and K&N came out 6th with no real performance gain, furthermore the cleaning/re-oiling process was a messy one and the filter let through much larger particles through than OEM (NOT a good thing). Their filter design has not changed since then.


PPS: Apexi came out as the no 1 filter for particulate filtering and also added a few more horses.

[royclark]

Roy, I've had my car since Aug 2012 and have added 23k miles, so on average am guessing that's circa 4500 miles every 6 months.

I am genuinely surprised at the amount of crud the filter picks up in that time...and no engine isn't going to benefit from the greater throughput of air that a new filter offers.

Also at that price (over the Audi one of £26.05 inc) if I change mine every 6 months it still comes out cheaper than someone that replaces with OEM every 2.5yrs

PS: In my petrol head days I remember reading an independent test of aftermarket filters, 7 were tested and K&N came out 6th with no real performance gain, furthermore the cleaning/re-oiling process was a messy one and the filter let through much larger particles through than OEM (NOT a good thing). Their filter design has not changed since then.


PPS: Apexi came out as the no 1 filter for particulate filtering and also added a few more horses.

Can't argue with that.
Had my car since 2010 and covered 9k, that's less than 2k a year so I recon that every two years will do me. (still change oil & filter every year).

I don't like any filter that draws air from the engine bay, the fact that you are drawing in warm / hot air into the engine (less dense) loses you power.
I don't think that the MAF can tell if the air is hot or cold.

[MarkTM]

That's why ours is quite a good design with the 'snorkel' attached to the front grill.

On my profile pic car the OEM filter box sits in isolation in the engine bay and the box vents to the front drivers wheel arch which offers no 'air-ram' effect. It's a bad design and have changed to a carbon dynamics filter with a pipe to the front filter, the carbon has a low thermal conductivity so will heat up less thn a standard air box. I did a test on that car using a standard box and the carbon wrapped one with front air scoop and the latter read a full 19 degrees cooler (at ambient 70)than the standard

Am unsure as to whether a